The following piece is what I consider to be one of the best quotes I've ever read on Christian love; it sets my soul on fire!

  "The better power, which arises from profound and affectionate knowledge of the human heart."  ---

  There is no human being to whom we look with so true a faith, as to him who shows himself deep-read in the mysteries within us; who seems to have dwelt where Omniscience only had access, and traced momentary lines of feeling whose rapid flash our own eye could scarcely follow; who put into words weaknesses which we had hardly dared to confess in thought; who appears to have trembled with our own anxieties, and wept our very tears.

This initiation into the interior nature is the quality which, above all others, gives one mind power over another. If it comes upon us from the living tones of a friendly voice, we listen as to the breathings of inspiration; if it acts on us only from the pages of a book, the enchantment is hardly less potent. That a being, distant and unknown, perhaps departed, should have so penetrated our subtlest emotions, and caught our most transient attitudes of thought, should have so detected our sophistries of conscience, and witnessed the miseries of our temptations, and known the sacredness of our affections, that we appear revealed anew even to ourselves, truly seems the greatest of triumphs of genius. It is a triumph peculiar to those who love the sympathies of their kind, and because they love them, instinctively appreciate and understand them. It is essentially the triumph which Christ won when the minions of tyranny and hypocrisy shrunk back from him in awe, saying, 'Never a man spake like this man.' James Martineau. Endeavors Pg. 223 Vol. 1.                  

This kind of thinking and seeking for spiritual insights and ways to be the best servant of Christ we can be, is sadly uncommon. I seldom hear sermons where we are encouraged to become people of sympathy, and people of understanding and encouragement. Much less to be 'deep-read' in the mysteries within us.' 

I hear dogmatic and threatening sermons warning us not to stray from the traditions of the church, beware of all new thought, and often those who question are demonized and called apostate.

But isn't it true, we love those who understand us and truly comprehend our situation. We listen to those who love us.

We are far more like Pharisees than we realize. We have the agenda to proselyte far more than to comfort. I have heard many sermons on soul-winning, and the libraries are full of books on the subject; and we will study and learn how to win souls but neglect how to win hearts.

He goes on to expand this by saying - "People of sympathy wed themselves to a benevolent scheme but it is thrust aside as a dream or fantasy by others; they may demonstrate a truth of startling magnitude; and it is acknowledged and passed by. They describe some misery of the poor, the child, or the guilty, and the world weeps, but the oppression is untouched. They put forth their conceptions of perfect character, and seek to refresh in men's minds the bewildered sentiment of right; and every conscience approves but not a volition stirs."

 So many of Christ's teachings centered on sympathy, just think about that for a minute.